Many sites, including our very own Se7enSins, utilize login features like signing in with Facebook, Twitter, or Google. While this has become the preferred method of account creation, due to the ease of creating accounts with credentials from companies that are already trusted, many experts have had warnings to share. During the keynote address at WWDC this past week, Craig Federighi, software chief at Apple, stated that "your personal information sometimes get shared behind the scenes, and these logins can be used to track you."
Enter Apple's solution: Sign In With Apple. Initially, this virtual login button was met with great reviews, as many developers have recently been looking towards Apple for security within their apps, mainly as an alternative to Facebook after last fall's breach that compromised nearly 90 million accounts on the social media platform. This event poised Apple for a potentially massive success story with Sign In With Apple. Needless to say, however, there are also sceptics who are not very confident that what Apple has to offer is anything that could be drastically different from their Google and Facebook counterparts.
The main issue that seems to concern developers is Apple's infamous lack of transparency around new products, which has left many feeling clueless about the impact that Apple's sign-in mechanism will have on their apps. Others have also noted that Apple's original request to developers was nothing like it is now. Originally, Apple mandated that developers incorporate Sign In With Apple if they already implemented Facebook and Google login features. At one point the mandate dictated that developers place Apple's button above every other button, which sparked a backlash from many developers, including Leah Culver, the co-founder and chief technology officer of podcast discovery app Breaker. In response to this, she said that she is "not super happy about [Apple] forcing apps to use a certain type of login, and I think it’s kind of petty. The question becomes, just because they control the App Store, should they control the login?". She also took the moment to note that Google does not force Android developers to use Login with Google, a statement that was later confirmed by the tech giant.
While facing a slew of sceptics, Apple continues to hammer on. Later this summer, Sign In With Apple will enter its beta testing phase, and with it boasts features that many are already familiar with. Apple has confirmed that Sign In With Apple will integrate Apple's popular Touch ID system, as well as its facial recognition system, Facial ID. Only time will tell whether Apple's foray into sign-in systems will have been worth the fight, and we can only hope that things go well from here on out.
